Mar
21
By Meryam
Discussion on China’s role and interest in Africa, whether in conferences, policy papers or in the news, has become a fashionable trend these days. The debate largely, and rather simplistically, focuses on whether China is a villain or a friend. For many western countries and international human rights groups, China is a villain: its actions are seen as irresponsible and counterproductive to international norms, largely symbolized by its stance on Sudan. For the African countries, as well as the developing world in general, China is a much needed friend: its investment and infrastructural projects provide an important boost to African economies. Most importantly, China does not attach strings to its aid, which has long been the practice of western countries and their key aid organizations, the World Bank and IMF.
For this reason, the United States hopes to hold high-level talks with China to address concerns over its aid program to developing countries, said US deputy assistant secretary of state Thomas Christensen, at a hearing of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a Congress-mandated panel.
“We are concerned that by giving aid without conditions and without coordination with the international community, China’s programs could run counter to the efforts by these other actors to use targeted and sustainable aid to promote transparency and good governance,” Christensen said.
The talks are aimed at persuading Beijing to coordinate its development assistance with “the United States, EU and other major sources of aid and investment”.
On the other hand, the new head of the European Development Assistance Committee (DAC), Eckhard Deutscher, says that China is ‘no villain’ in Africa, and that the OECD can learn much from China’s development experience.
The DAC is a bilateral donor forum for the countries making up the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Twenty-five of its 30 rich members have given hundreds of billions of dollars as official development assistance over the past four decades.
Deutscher’s statement is significant, largely due to the contrary perceptions within OECD member countries themselves of China’s engagement in Africa. Deutscher however, says, “I cannot share the general view that China is out to support dictators out there and rob Africa of its resources. We have to look country by country what China is doing and cooperate in a mutual way.”
Unlike his counterparts, Deutscher believes China is interested in pursuing a sustainable Africa policy. “China can learn a lot in this respect from the international development community as we can learn from China’s experiences,” the DAC chairman noted.
In particular, he said it was important to look at what China’s partners think. He gave the example of the Philippines, with whom China had concluded a USD 1.2 million deal within six weeks, while such a deal through the World Bank would take ‘two years from the idea of a project to its realization’.
“The lesson is obvious: We must take into account the interests of partner countries. We must stop paying lip service to ‘ownership’. We are living in a competitive world. We cannot afford to be self-righteous,” Deutscher said.
That may be the case, and many African countries would agree that China’s development assistance is particularly useful due to speedy and efficient administration. However, it would be interesting to study the long term effects of these projects, and how (if) they have benefited the general population. Also, I would have liked to ask Mr Deutscher what he makes of China’s non-interference policy when it comes to authoritarian governance and clear human rights abuses.
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Nice post Meryam. As you point out, what is neccessary to resolve the issue is to compare the long term impacts of western and Chinese funded projects.